Something Bigger ! - Than a Barn Owl!

[John Harper]

Hi there

Having consigned Barn Owl pictures to the "recycle bin of life" i thought i would post something a bit bigger.

Now i know it had been suggested that i go smaller in my hunt for creatures in flight, but this one was taken yesterday before i was put on my new path that "less is more".

So until i can find a 4 foot dragonfly to practice on this will have to do!

Taken at my second home (after the IOW ferry!) The Hawk Conservancy

I believe its a Great Grey Heron (Ardea Cinerea).

It should be in SRGB colour space... and i hope is closer to the sharpness that Nicolas can get from my images

Tech Data

EOS1DMKIIN EF400mm F5.6L ISO 400 1/2000 @ f5.6

John

 

[nicolas claris]

John

this one is tack sharp!

i was put on my new path that "less is more".

hmmmmm, More or less !

 

[Ray West]

Hi John,

I've just phoned Slimbridge. They are waiting for you ;-) ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

 

[John Harper]

Hi John,

I've just phoned Slimbridge. They are waiting for you ;-) ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

Hi Ray

Thats great news do they have 4 foot dragonflies there?

Regards


John

 

[Ray West]

John, I never said they were waiting to let you in......

 

[John Harper]

John

this one is tack sharp!



hmmmmm, More or less !

Nicolas

This one might be....... you should see the other 4 in the sequence

John

 

[John Harper]

John, I never said they were waiting to let you in......

Ray

Ah sorry obviously mis understood....... i would be kept outside as Dragonfly bait.... and testament to the fact that PRO spec gear does not make one a photographer.... But i think i already asked that question.

John

 

[nicolas claris]

one upon 4 not a bad rate!

 

[Erik DeBill]

Looks like a Great Blue Heron to me... which isn't surprising, given that they're supposed to look similar

I really like the way the backlight outlines the edges of the wings and separates them from the background. Amazingly, you've still got good detail in the shadows.

What range were you shooting from, and did you have to jump through any extra hoops to avoid getting a silhouette?

 

[John Harper]

Looks like a Great Blue Heron to me... which isn't surprising, given that they're supposed to look similar

I really like the way the backlight outlines the edges of the wings and separates them from the background. Amazingly, you've still got good detail in the shadows.

What range were you shooting from, and did you have to jump through any extra hoops to avoid getting a silhouette?

Hi Erik

Glad that you like the shot.

I was shooting from about 30 metres (100 feet) away. No special tricks or hoops to jump through. I metered from the green grass and set the shutter and aperture manually high speed on the camera drive (8.5FPS) Focus was on AI Servo using the centre focus point only. Custom function 4-3 to set focus on the * button on the back of the camera. Files were shot in RAW format so it made it easier to get any details back into the shadows if i messed up the exposure.

Hope this explains the process involved

John

 

[John_Nevill]

Its defintely a Great Grey, they come in in flocks of up to 12 at a time when the Hawk Conservany feeds them with scraps at the end of the day.

Its quite strange as there's very little water nearby and being mainly a fish eating bird, their provided diet consists of rats, mice, beef and quail.

I caught a similar one a year ago.

 

[John Harper]

Its defintely a Great Grey, they come in in flocks of up to 12 at a time when the Hawk Conservany feeds them with scraps at the end of the day.

Its quite strange as there's very little water nearby and being mainly a fish eating bird, their provided diet consists of rats, mice, beef and quail.

I caught a similar one a year ago.

Hi John

I much prefer the light in your shot, but i think it was later in the year, so i shall have to return in October!

John

 

[John_Nevill]

Thanks John, in October the light is lower and more contrajour at that time of day. This illuminates the wings with some nice golden light.

BTW, I was at the HC at the weekend and grabbed some nice young kestrel shots, although they were spoilt through lack of reach (crops)...the urge to get an EF500 is beckoning!

 

[John Harper]

Thanks John, in October the light is lower and more contrajour at that time of day. This illuminates the wings with some nice golden light.

BTW, I was at the HC at the weekend and grabbed some nice young kestrel shots, although they were spoilt through lack of reach (crops)...the urge to get an EF500 is beckoning!

Hi John

I had a similar problem on Saturday, the kestrel came down to pick up food for its young chicks. and i thought the falcons moved fast!! This one was about the best of a poor bunch, not as crisp as the heron

On the EF 500mm front LCE has one in its hire stock @ £75 +VAT for the weekend might be worth a try to see if it is hand-holdable?

Don't know if Nicolas can throw any light on this with his experience of using one or if you go to the halfway house of a gimbal head on a monopod.

John

 

[nicolas claris]

Hi John and John
My experience is still poor about balhead etc, the latest news are at the end of this

However, on the above shot, I think it's a shutter speed problem, the tail and the legs seem to be sharp... let me check, I'll be back!

 

[nicolas claris]

am back
it can be sharpened a bit more, but not that much.

It's his right wing that is blurred. According to the exif shutter speed was 1/2000th and that could be just not enough for these fast birds...

 

[John Harper]

am back
it can be sharpened a bit more, but not that much.

It's his right wing that is blurred. According to the exif shutter speed was 1/2000th and that could be just not enough for these fast birds...

Hi Nicolas

Thanks for looking at it for me.

Just taking a step back from the photo for a minute. I know we all moan about shots not being sharp enough and not in focus....

But just thinking about what the camera and lens is doing in a fraction of a second.

You see the bird.. acquire him in the frame.. get the centre focus point on him, hit the focus button let the AI servo achieve focus. keep him centered then hit the shutter button. You have about 2 seconds to do all that and the camera shoots off frames at 8.5 FPS while following focus if you keep the sensor on the bird.

The electronics and mechanics to do that boggle the mind! and frankly in the hands of a not particularly accomplished shooter like myself still manages to come back with the goods.

Hats off to Canon & Nikon and all the others who have made this possible. It allows to try shots like this without spending a fortune on film and developing

John

 

[nicolas claris]

You're right! same with computer, I hit some caps on a keyboard and some seconds later, someone can read me downunder the planet. Amazing isn't it?

Back to your photo, my guess is that it is focussed and sharp, it is only motion blurred because of too slow shutter speed (even 1/2000th).

Next time try 1/3000 or even more and set the ISO to 800 isntead of 400!

 

[John_Nevill]

A couple of buddies have both the EF500 and EF600 (John you've tried the latter).

I think the EF600 is awesome but i'm not really one for staying still in a hide or luggiing around 6kg of lens, 1.5kg dSLR and another 7-10kg of support gear. The EF500 is a compromise but it's still a sizeable beast.

For info, the guy with the EF500 uses a gitzo cf tripod, markin ballhead and wimberley sidekick, while the EF 600 guy has a gitzo cf with direct mount black widow heavy duty gimbal.

I've tried both direct on ballheads, including the acratech v2 and its a no go, I cant seem to get the friction right, although locked down with a wimberly it works fine.

I'm even considered the EF400 f4 DO IS and EF300 f2.8 IS, but I know i'll end up putting TCs on them.

I dunno, the need for more reach is major quandry. I just hope Canon update the EF100-400, it must be nearly 10 years old now and given the accolades the new EF70-200 f4 IS is getting, i'm sure they could give it a new lease of life and perhaps f4 through the zoom range...yeilding a front element of ~100mm, ok i'll stop dreaming/speculating!

BTW, here's that Kestrel again (1/3rd frame crop & resize), shot with a 1DN with EF300+1.4TC ISO 400

PS, Nicolas is spot on, I try and keep above 1/1600 sec for all bird in flight shots!

 

[John Harper]

A couple of buddies have both the EF500 and EF600 (John you've tried the latter).

I think the EF600 is awesome but i'm not really one for staying still in a hide or luggiing around 6kg of lens, 1.5kg dSLR and another 7-10kg of support gear. The EF500 is a compromise but it's still a sizeable beast.

For info, the guy with the EF500 uses a gitzo cf tripod, markin ballhead and wimberley sidekick, while the EF 600 guy has a gitzo cf with direct mount black widow heavy duty gimbal.

I've tried both direct on ballheads, including the acratech v2 and its a no go, I cant seem to get the friction right, although locked down with a wimberly it works fine.

I'm even considered the EF400 f4 DO IS and EF300 f2.8 IS, but I know i'll end up putting TCs on them.

I dunno, the need for more reach is major quandry. I just hope Canon update the EF100-400, it must be nearly 10 years old now and given the accolades the new EF70-200 f4 IS is getting, i'm sure they could give it a new lease of life and perhaps f4 through the zoom range...yeilding a front element of ~100mm, ok i'll stop dreaming/speculating!

BTW, here's that Kestrel again (1/3rd frame crop & resize), shot with a 1DN with EF300+1.4TC ISO 400


PS, Nicolas is spot on, I try and keep above 1/1600 sec for all bird in flight shots!

Hi John

Now that is crisp!.

I have seen a guy at the HC using a 500mm handheld, i had a brief chat with him and he says he uses it that way most of the time. A few of his shots are in the calender this year and i think he shot the pic of the little owl on the tap on the cover of the last issue of "Hawk Talk".

So i imagine it can be done. I will have to hire the lens one weekend and give it a go, and then save myself £4000 when i give the whole thing up as a bad idea

John

 

[Don Cohen]

I have seen a guy at the HC using a 500mm handheld, i had a brief chat with him and he says he uses it that way most of the time. A few of his shots are in the calender this year and i think he shot the pic of the little owl on the tap on the cover of the last issue of "Hawk Talk".

So i imagine it can be done. I will have to hire the lens one weekend and give it a go, and then save myself £4000 when i give the whole thing up as a bad idea

John

Well, it is possible, although you'd have to have an awful lot of upper arm strength. I would have to think that it would be much harder to consistently get high quality images this way, versus a solid tripod mount, with a good gimbal-head. It is lighter than the 600L, which I have hand-held on very brief occasions!